“It was an extremely unique experience. I’ve never played with a group of girls who were willing to sacrifice so much for our school and for each-other. I wouldn’t trade this season for anything,” Senior Jamie Tompkins claimed.

Last Friday, February 5th, Newsome’s girls soccer team made history by competing in the class 5A state tournament. After weeks of preparation, sweat, tears, victories, and “do another lap”s, the Lady Wolves soccer team ended an incredible season at the state game in Melbourne, Florida.

The Wolves faced several obstacles, including a strategically skilled opponent, and two unfortunate calls from the referees, that contributed to their loss on Friday. As described by player Madison Rowe, “Our opponent was a private school from Miami. They were good at stretching the field and getting wide to stretch our defense and create opportunities in the middle. But, my midfielders did a good job of getting back to help,” Rowe continued, “they had a forward who had an amazing shot and they worked well through the middle of the field to go to the outsides.”

However, despite the technical ball skills and the ending victory of the Miami Lourdes- Newsome’s opponent- the Wolves played with vigor, determination, and as much heart as one could possibly imagine. Within the first minute, Peyton Smith took a shot from about 5 yards out. Although this shot was deflected by Lourdes’ goalkeeper Amanda Puig, the Wolves continued the first half with hope and utter drive.

By the 14th minute, the first of Newsome’s bad breaks had presented itself. In this draining minute, Lourdes player Victoria Munoz managed to evade 2 defenders and gain access to the ball, to which she narrowly made into the net. Despite Rowe’s apparent handle on the ball, Munoz was able to toe kick it in, scoring a point for the Miami team. Rowe tells of her feelings during the game, detailing that Newsome was, “down 1-0 about 20 minutes into the game, but [she] had complete faith that my team would fight it until the very end. We played with so much passion and determination, and we truly played our hearts out. We gave it our all for each-other, and unfortunately we couldn’t get the result we wanted. Regardless of the ending result, I had faith during the game. I had faith that we could do it.”

With the Lourdes leading the game by one point, Newsome’s girls emerged playing powerfully, strategically, and with striking energy. By the 42nd minute of the game, Newsome had earned a free kick.

Junior Lauren Evans shot and scored a goal, bringing cheer and elation to not only our home team, but all of its supporters. However, the referees converged to discuss the legality of the goal, and ended by deeming it invalid, since it had been placed at midfield and was not touched by any other players. Disappointment and disbelief shrouding the huddled Lady Wolves. Juniors Madison Rowe and Addison Ura described this moment to be the most difficult part of the game. Rowe later went on to describe it by saying, “looking up and seeing the ref calling our goal back was heart breaking. We had finally gotten the goal we had fought so hard for, only to then find out that we were still losing and running out of time.” However, Rowe continued by adding that the Wolves “got straight back to business and kept fighting until that final whistle blew.”

As general consensus, the Wolves outplayed the Bobcats in the second half, yet unfortunately were still not able to score any goals. The wolves had 8 shots in the second half, all of which were deflected by their opponent. In the 75th minute, a line-drive shot was made from 15 yards towards the goal, but was saved by Lourdes’ goalkeeper Amanda Puig. While Ura described the best part of the game to be scoring a goal, Rowe believed that the best part was the entire second half. “We dominated possession and were killing them. I really thought we had it.”

After 6 laps every day, endless effort, irreplaceable heart and determination, and an unforgettable game at the Class 5A state tournament, the Lady Wolves’ soccer season of 2016 has come to an end. Win or lose, this final game was a phenomenal feat of hard work, skill, strategy, and pure heart. With a statement by Ura, the game is eloquently summarized via first-hand experience, “I wish I would have just gotten to one more ball or pass to chance the outcome. But in the end, I guess there are regrets with every game, and I put my heart into this one.”